UK speed cameras are back with a vengeance

Speed cameras are coming back with a vengeance and they’ll be more accurate than ever before, it has been claimed. According to a Telegraph report, fifty per cent more speed cameras will be added to the UK within the next year.

Speed cameras will return and they’ll be more efficient than ever.

The news may come as a surprise to many because the government, upon taking office, stopped Whitehall funding for speed cameras and switched many off due to spending cuts.

However, money generated by motorists attending speed awareness courses will fund modern digital cameras. Unlike old-school GATSOs, these will work 24-hours a day, every day, for eternity, capturing yet more speeders, generating more revenue and funding yet more cameras.

The Telegraph questioned 33 safety camera partnerships – local multi-agency partnerships between police, local government, the NHS, highways agency and the courts. More than half said they intend to install new cameras, with the total number set to increase by 50 per cent in the next 12 months.

Four safety partnerships – Cheshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, Northrants and Nottinghamshire – have admitted that more speed cameras will create more prosecutions and fines.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Transport Minister Stephen Hammond said: “It is for local authorities and police to decide whether or not to use speed cameras and how they wish to operate them.

“However,” Hammond added, “we do not believe that cameras should be used as the default solution in reducing accidents, nor as a way of raising revenue.”

Not everyone is pleased about the revival of the speed camera. Keith Peat, ex-police officer and spokesman for the Association of British Drivers, explained: “This is entirely predictable. The fact of the matter is the road safety industry, which includes the manufacturers of the devices and the partnerships, have a vested interest.”

He added: “These cameras can’t see how an accident happened, they can’t see whether you were drunk or if you were careless. This Government is continuing the war on the motorist and it is counterproductive.”